It is impressive for anyone to not notice the mysterious glass containers crowning the bar of the Urban Beach. Standing like a behemoth and looking as if it belongs in a mad-scientists laboratory…a simple and effective sign labels one as “Old Jon’s Spiced Rum”.

To begin, Jon is the Obi-Wan Kenobi of our trade. A veritable wizard of mixology…and yes he is getting on a bit. However, his name does not adorn the vivacious vessel by default. It was by competition, intoxication and group judgement that his version of a homemade spiced Rum is now available for you to enjoy and judge for yourselves. 

Earlier this year, in a shady corner of our establishment…bartenders, chefs and some of the loveliest waiting staff from both the Urban Beach and it’s sister the Urban Reef came together for a night of experimentation. Each entrant brought an austere bottle of Pampero ‘Venezuelan’ Rum that had been imbued with a wide array of flavours, spices and herbs. A tantalising collection of inventiveness, ranging from chilli to chocolate…from nutty to smoked.

Every entrant became judge in a blind tasting that rambled on into the night. Surreptitiously thrown into the fray were a couple of commercially renowned Rums, the new look Sailor Jerry’s and a particular favourite of ours…OVD spiced. As expected through the generations of time and effort put into these two superb spiced Rums, they fared rather well in the blind tasting…emerging victorious against all of the Urban workforce’s concoctions.

Except one…Old Jon’s Spiced rum, a delicate unity of vanilla, dried apricots, raisins, cloves, nutmeg, cardamon and a big ole stick of cinnamon…sufficiently wowed its fellow Rum lovers to be crowned king of the infusions. To honour this remarkable achievement, Jon’s rum was put into a small-scale production across both Urban sites to be made available to the most prestigious and worthy judges of all…your fine selves.

Written by Adam Haines

Sshhh…let us speak in whispers; the summer may very well be here. As we tiptoe out into the blazing sun knowing that the slightest word out of place would be the most taboo, there are two things for sure. Firstly that the golden silence will inevitably be broken with the crank of a motor and the hum of a lawnmower…creating a chain reaction across every lawn in our fair country, resulting in vest adorned men with handkerchiefs for hats sending a grass cloud hurtling into the sky. The hayfever sufferers amongst us curse, the bees’ swoon…and the beer gardens swell.

Which brings us onto the second inevitability…a seemingly unquenchable thirst for a cocktail packed with more fruit than a Muller factory. Of recent years a most delicious foreigner has reached vogue status in our community…the Mojito has become extremely popular. But there is one drink that challenges this sparkling mint daiquiri for summer supremacy…one drink that epitomises this glorious season…the most quintessential English cocktail, our friend the Pimms and lemonade.

It is impossible to stroll into the Urban Beach at any time of year without being thrust into an environment of experimentation and ‘do it yourself’ ethics. This time of year, the mad scientist of our bar has concocted something very special…and to avoid any possible lawsuit, it is named the Homemade Pomms. Our latest batch is maybe easier to imbue than it seems. 1 part Rose wine is infused with the fruits of the moment…mint, cucumber, pear, rosemary, thyme to name but a few. This is then fortified with a cognac and sweetened with sugar. The second phase is 4 parts red wine, a fruity vino infused with our super fruits tea (compliment to Tea-Pigs, a damn fine blend!) and vanilla. Both parts are then married and allowed to do their business for a few days before being fine strained and ready for consumption.

As with its well known counterpart…we build the Pomms over ice with a selection of sliced fruit and top it up with another homemade treat…the lemonade from our smoothies board. An unnecessarily large sprig of mint adorns the top of this summer sensation. All that is left is for you to indulge, keeping one eye on the sky and easy access to your brolly…just in case.

SUNDAY 25TH APRIL 2010

Put your ‘Mary’ where  your mouth is! Come and pit your secret recipe against fellow Chefs, Bartenders, publicans and restauranteurs from across the county in the quest to find the the best Bloody Mary in Dorset… BBQ and tomato based festivities begin at noon and judging starts at 2pm. A panel of judges will taste their way to the final 4 recipes who will then compete for the title of the Best Bloody Mary in Dorset. Each of the 4 finalists will receive a prize. The overall winner will win a trip to the Ketel One Distillery in Schiedam, Holland and the winning recipe will become the Ketel One Bloody Mary of Choice. Applicants must complete a registration form downloadable here For full details of the competition click here

POST EVENT UPDATE: We’re really pleased to announce that Urban Beach was awarded this title following a great fun and very competitive competition.  Although hosted at the Urban Beach we we clearly not involved in the judging…we just can’t  help making a lovely bloody mary ;-).  You can get one with a Full English breakfast until the end of June for £10 in total…a great chance to try one.